Heather, 16, from Australia asks: Let me just start by giving you kudos for some of your impeccable advice giving, I’ve asked you questions before in the past and your responses have been nothing less than comforting and satisfying, thank you. This is a pretty basic question, and the answer may be obvious, but I really need a decent insight on this. I’ve only ever shaved my legs completely once. Not only does it sting and cause rashes, I fail to see the point. There is a prickly aftermath and it’s time consuming. How has it become such a growing trend? Sure the silky smooth legs are nice on occasion, but for me it wore off after about a day, after sitting in my bathroom for over 3 hours (even that could have been just caused from inexperience)… A fair few of the people I know seem to have a lot of trouble dealing with the fact that I have leg hair believe it or not, both girls and guys, and my previous boyfriends never mentioned it being a problem. The main reason I asked you this is because, I was having a conversation with who I thought was a pretty cool guy, until he became hooked on the idea that I needed to change who I am. Apparently just about all guys don’t like girls that don’t shave their legs, I tried to explain to him that if it really matters that much to someone that I don’t then I won’t waste my time with them, but he kept bringing up that I have to. He just ignored me and kept on with it. I’d like to know why it bothers so many people; I’ll never have long black prickly hairs, and you can barely see them as they are. He’s one of about 20 other people that have harassed me about it, is there anything I can do? (Other than give up and shave, because that’s out of the question.) Much love and many thanks, Heather.

VictorM's advice: The short answer to why it bothers so many people: marketing! There is no money to be made if you don't shave, so billions are spent convincing you that somehow you're more advanced in the food chain if you conform. It becomes awfully difficult to buck the trends when billions of people buy into those trends. Your choices are to conform or to be an outcast. Society isn't kind to outcasts, even for something is insignificant as not shaving your legs.

I'm sure there are many other things that you do that are unnecessary. You probably eat with a fork and knife, but for many thousands of years, bare hands did the trick. In some cultures a daily shower is expected, others see no point in showering so often. Body odor is repugnant to most of us, but that hasn't always been so, and isn't so today in many societies. I'm sure your habits in those areas are aligned with what your society has dictated, even if they are unnecessary.

Your description of the hassles of shaving your legs seem way out of line with most women I know. Yeah, many consider it some hassle -- so do I about shaving my face -- but these are things that get easier as they become routine. Your skin becomes less irritated the more you do it to the point where it's not a problem (with some exceptions.) Many women shave below the knees more often and above the knees less often. Many do a quick go over every day with a blade while in the shower adding maybe a minute more or so to that daily routine and thus avoiding the stubly feeling. And my lord, they sell you all kinds of stuff to make it easier to shave and be less irritant afterwards.

There is no doubt that smooth silky legs is, for most guys, one of the most appealing things on a woman. And sure, at 16, when you have nothing but some peach fuzz and hardly visible, yeah, it makes little different. But it's not going to be that way as you get older.

If you don't want to shave, don't shave. Enough people will be OK with that. If you want to get the others off your back, say you have a medical condition that prevents you from shaving. (Yeah, white lies do come in handy sometimes.) But not shaving your legs on principle is silly. You're not going to win any Nobel prize over that sort of stance. There are plenty of injustices and meanness in the world; why waste energies on something so petty?

Two more things: one, thank you for you compliments about my answers; two, your male friend is an idiot -- shave his nuts off!